Fat Ninja

These days it can be quite a challenge to impress the gaming community. New gameplay conventions are not only hard to come by, they’re often adopted and emulated by the collective development community with such a voracious rapidity that they easily become forgotten for the minor paradigm shifts that they instigated. For example, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell drastically changed the importance of lighting, illustrating that it could serve a function beyond mere aesthetic posturing. It proved that minor immersive effects could go well beyond the scope of their initial intentions, and that with the proper focus and design, could actually become the fulcrum of a gameplay experience.

Innovators and Emulators

But not every game innovates. In fact, there are few game developers that really seek to break away from the status quo and expand the horizon, opting instead to rest on the laurels of other developers. Fortunately, for them and us, the gamers, we have developers out there that are more interested in pushing boundaries than they are with pushing units;visionaries who are determined to find ways to realize their own imaginings . However, as was the case with Splinter Cell, innovation doesn’t always come down to creating something entirely new; instead, it is often achieved using existing technology and mechanics in an innovative way.

Cell Factor uses physics in conventional ways…

Which brings us to Cell Factor, an upcoming Xbox360 title that I had, until today, been completely unaware of. The use of physics engines in gaming is certainly nothing new. In fact, it’s been around for quite some time. Initially, it was employed to create a sense of realism in games. Whether in the rag-doll drop of a recently dispatched foe, or the simple skittering of a bucket that your character has recently run into, physics were employed largely to bring one of reality’s most powerful governing forces into virtual entertainment: gravity.

As is the case with every innovation, the use of a physics soon became less of a commodity and more of a staple. We came to take physics for granted, failing to realize the untapped potential that hid just below the surface. But not everyone overlooked this fact. Games like Psi-Ops, Second Sight, and Half-Life 2 gave us a glimpse of what could be done with physics, allowing players to actually manipulate gravity for gameplay purposes.

The Physics of Things

Looking to expand upon this evolution is Cell Factor from Immersion Software. Using physics on a scale heretofore unseen by the likes of mere mortals such as myself, Cell Factor has made physics the centerpiece of its experience. Now, going by screenshots alone, you might think to yourself, “Oh, great, another Unreal Tournament clone. Just what we need.” In fact, I think that very thought passed through my mind when I glanced at a news blurb about Cell Factor.

…but it also uses them in bold new ways.

It’s not until you actually watch some gameplay footage that you truly understand the mind-blowing scope of Immersion Software’s laborings (If you haven’t, I’d recommend you go here and watch “Trailer 2 HD”). Only when you see it in motion do you realize that you are looking at a game in which the entire environment is a weapon; a homicidal playground full of countless objects just waiting for you to find some way to use them for destructive purposes, be it in the impaling, crushing, incinerating, maiming, or pulverizing of your foes.

FINAL IMPRESSIONS

I can honestly say that I have never seen a game quite like Cell Factor. Like most successful games, it appears to borrow heavily from its contemporaries and its predecessors, but , in truth, the gaming industry is as reliant upon the emulation of good ideas as it is upon innovation. It is, after all, only natural that successful traits and adaptations be carried over in the succession of a given genre, for such is the nature of evolution; and it is the evolution of ideas and the ability to realize and effectively employ them that will ensure the continued survival of the medium.

Should be a blast!

Thus far, Cell Factor appears to be a worthy successor to those who have come before it. Its simultaneous adherence to and departure from the proven formula of the first-person shooter could prove to be at the very least, a notable, if not pivotal, period in the evolutionary timeline of the genre.

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